Stamp-vending machine



E. A. BOLEN.

STAMP VENDINGMACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.17. 1921.

1;,4E19,353 Patented June 13, 1922.

Im'renjgg Z'mensrazz 19 MQMM WH EMERSON A. BOLEN, OF MORRIS. ILLINOIS,ASSIG'NOR TO THE NORTHWESTERN COR- PORATION, OF MORRIS, ILLINOIS. ACORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

STAIVIP-VENDING MACHINE.

L IIQSSS,

Application filed August 17, 1921.

T 0 all 10 7mm it may concern Be it known that I, Emerson A. BOLEN,citizen of the United States, residing at Morris, in the county ofGrundy and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Stamp-Vending Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

In the construction of stamp-vending machines I have found it to be verydifficult to provide any mechanism that will satisfactorily operate todeliver five postage stamps on a single operation of a manually movedactuator. Stamps. as supplied in rolls suitable for use incoin-controlled vending machines, vary materially in length betweenperforations, and in the handling thereof it is desirable to employ, asa means for automatically compensating for such variation, a polygonalstamp driver or feed wheel eooperating with a fixed arcuate retainingwall, in embodiment of the invention set forth in my prior Patent1,199,961. My present invention has for its object to provide a specificapplication of the polygonal driver principle in conjunction with thearcuate wall that will satisfactorily handle the dificult matter ofdelivering five stamps for each half rotation of the driver, practicallyregardless of wide variations in spacing between the perforation rows ofthe stamp strips. To this end it consists in the construction andarrangement hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawing Fig. l is a diagrammatic section through a stamp-vendingmachine embodying my present invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspectivedetail of a stamp-delivering wheel or driver.

In the casing 10 having a stamp-delivery orifice 11 that preferably issupplemented on one side by a guide roll 12 and on the other Side by aninternally projecting wire finger or curler 13, the polygonal driver l tof a thickness approximately equaling the width of a stamp strip ismounted on a horizontal shaft 15, the driver being operativelyassociated with an arcuate guard or retainer 16 that is suitably fixedin the casing concentrically with the shaft 15. the driver having aperilnetral median slot into which the curler finger 13 dips and beingprovided at its corners with break-ridges 19 each preferably having oneor more shallow pins 20 protrud- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 113, 1922.

Serial No. 492,914.

ing very slightly therebeyond. The stampstri 21 leads from a roll 2].over guiderollers 22 and 23 into the opening 24 of the arcuate retainerwall 16, the receptive edge 25 being preferably close to the roller 3and the stamp strip passing over such roller being borne upon by a lighttension spring 26, secured to the casing. The opening 24 through theretaining wall is preferabh less than 90 degrees in extent, and thestamp strip, passing around the driver 14 between its break-ribs 19 andthe retaining wall 16, emerging past the end 27 of said wall. close tothe guide roller 12.

Suitable provision is made for coin-controlled rotation of the driver tothe extent of a one-half revolution for each operation of an actuatinghandle. Since mechanisms that will accomplish such a result of accuratepredetermined throw of a driver under coin control are well known, Imerely illustrate diagrammatically the presence of structure for thestated purpose and for which more refined mechanism may obviously besubstituted. In the schematic showing a coin 30 introduced through coinchute 31 may be picked up by a carrier arm 32 loosely rotatable aboutshaft 15 and operatable by the handle the coin when picked up by sucharm 32 being rotativel-y carried by the arm under the guidanceof an are34 until it reaches the end of said are and falls from the carrying arm,and the driver 14 having secured thereto as by screw 35 a two-armed yokethe diametrically opposed fingers 36 of which stand in the path oftravel of the coin to be carried in half rotation during the traverse ofthe coin from receptive position to delivery position.

In constructing the polygonal driver for fivestamp delivery I form itssurface in six chords, four of these being each ofapproximatelytwo-stamp length and two of them being each of one-stamp length, withthe one-stamp chords in diametrically opposed position. In measuringchord lengths from tip to tip of the pins 20 of the breakerribs,and itis in respect of the outermost points of the structure thatchord-lengths should be determined- 1 calculate stamp length by themaximum measurement that I find to be at all commonly encountered in theseparation between perforations in stamp-rolls, and in relating thedriver 14: to

the arcuate retaining; wall 16 I provide clearance slightly in excess ofthe thickness of the gunnned stamp strips.

By constructing in the ma nuer described, using a hexagonal polygon withtwo short sides and four long sides I am able to relate contiguous facesthroughout the structure at sulliciently abrupt angles to give a sharpbending" or breaking tendency, or, in. other words. I ensure that thestamps of the strip, tending always to bend at the lines of perforation,may lie in chords within the are of the retaining wall presenting arather abrupt angle between adjacent chords of the stamps. In resultantpractice it is the fact, as graphically suggested in Fig. 1, that thedriver normally standing in the position shown in Fig. 1, so that thepreviously-delivered batch of five stamps will have been torn off at theline of perforation closest to the leaving end 27 of the retaining wall,the stamp 21 lying between this point and the next point on the driver(that is to say,

lying; on the one stamp chord of the driver) may not have itsperforation line, at which the rather-stiff gummed stamp strip hasangularly broken, in precise register with the breakerrib or pins of thecorresponding angle of the driver, because the stamp may not be ofmaximum length. correspondingly, the pair of stamps 2?, probably of lessthan maximum length between perforation, may break at a row ofperforation quite mate- 'rially in advance of the driver-angle that liesbetween two two-stamp spaces, and this lack of register mayprogressively continue throughout the perimeter of the driver. lVhen,however, the driver is rotated its leading angle, in this case the angleX, will slip forward without driving the stamp until. it engages a breakin the stamp strip and row oi perforations and will then carry thestamps forwardfiintil it passes out of regisle]: with. the retainingwall 16, when the next angle or corner, Y, will slip forward toits-stamp-strip-break and then subsequently the third corner Z will.correspond- ,aiaess ingly make its compensatory slip, so that after thehalf rotation and delivery of five stamps the stamp-strip may always bereadily torn off at the line of the break in the stamp strip registeringwith said point Z.

It will now be clear that since the important automatic compensatoryaction of the driver in respect of the stamp depends, for prevention ofover-doing the matter and permitting the driver idly to slip inside ofthe stamp-strip. upon there being a rather abrupt break or angle in thestamp strip at the appropriate line of perforation, and also that thereshall be a large enough number of points of cooperation between thestamp strip and the driver to give a material tendency for the stampstrip to be retarded by the encompassing wall 16, notwithstanding thatthe spacing between the driver-point and the wall is slip-permissive,the hexagonal driver accommodates itself to these conflictingconditionsand accomplishcs a result diflicult of achievement in a manner that isat once simple and effective.

I claim: I

1. In a stamp dispensing machine, the combinationof a hexagonal driver,means for rotating the same, and a fixed areuate retaining wall partlyencircling the driver and slightly spaced from the effective points ofangles of the latter, said driver having the chords between itseffective angles arranged to provide two diametrically opposed chords ofsin gle-stamp length and the intervenlne chords each of two-stamplength.

2. A. structure asset forth in claim 1 wherein the driver-rotative meansis arranged at each operation to move the driver through a half rotationand the retaining wall is provided with an opening of ap proximately thelength of a two-stamp chord. said driver being arranged when in normalposition to present the forward angle of a one-stamp chord incooperation: with the leaving-extremity of the retainin wall.

EMERSON A. BOL N.

